<p>amazon, all good advice but, at my kids (private) school, it’s common for some kids to double up on solids they enjoy and opt out of another solid. Generally, it’s doubling up science and skipping history/social studies or vice versa. Opting out of English isn’t an option. I share this because 2 of my daughters are more math/science-y and dropped history their senior years and replaced it with extra science. Both did/will attend ivy league schools. </p>
<p>While one daughter did take French in 12th grade (11th is the year you take AP at her school so this was a different AP literature course), my other daughter just went through AP Spanish in 11th grade and did not take Spanish in 12th grade. FYI, her interest is in engineering and design so her classes included design, engineering and computer science so I do agree with taking ‘solids’ but I do think there’s some flexibility by senior year based on what programs or majors the student is considering.</p>
<p>Yeah, lots of kids do that and they do very well. My kids were more well-rounded except one really wasn’t good at science but she took AP Bio anyway as a senior.</p>
<p>Our school had AP language in senior year although they should have moved it to junior year. It was feather-bedding if that’s the correct term by the language dept.</p>
<p>At some high schools, the English honors sequence uses the two AP English courses for the 11th and 12th grade courses, so students taking the English honors sequence end up taking both courses (and might as well take both tests, since some colleges count one more than the other for subject credit – although it is often the case that having both does not give any more subject credit than whatever gives the greater amount of subject credit).</p>
<p>This may be too restrictive. As long as you have five solid academic courses in your schedule and you’ve completed the required/recommended number of courses in each field, I don’t see a problem with having a schedule (especially in senior year) that doubles up on one subject area while omitting another.</p>
<p>My older son had two years of World History, and one of US (APUSH). He didn’t take history as a senior - instead he took AP Economics. He took the three main science APs, AP Comp Sci, AP Calc BC and Linear Equations. He got into very selective colleges without taking more than one AP history. And he didn’t take either AP English course, though he did have four years of English.</p>
<p>There are usually school district and State requirements that dictate how many credits MUST be completed in each of the areas. Most require 4 years of English, 2-3 years of foreign language, 4 years of Math, 4 years of science and 4 years of social studies. Some of the credits may be acquired in middle school.</p>
<p>Here is a plan for Texas graduation. Although it says recommended, it is the required graduation plan at most high schools in Texas unless they are a performing arts magnet.</p>
<p>Haven’t read the thread but I’d start by getting rid of your user name and choosing another, and encouraging your child to think about what they want to DO in college and beyond, and what colleges have strong programs in the majors they are interested in. “Ivy league” is not a major.</p>
<p>Applying ED says “I pick you” and assures the school that you are not just shopping around for any Ivy or other selective school that will let you in. Helping your child articulate a good reason for choosing that particular school and how they are a good fit is very important in the essays. I would also add, as someone who has been on an admissions committee at a major state flagship university, that the essays all start to sound the same after a while - so anything that helps engage the reader and helps them want to get to know the student more is great! We didn’t use professional help with essays for my son, but did ask some faculty friends to read and honestly respond to his initial efforts. They all encouraged keeping an authentic voice (sound like the 17 year old that he was) and avoid cliche’s or pretension. They all suggested removing big words that didn’t sound natural to his way of speaking even though they were used correctly. They also encouraged that he lose a tone of hyperbole and dial down his rhetoric a bit, which is apparently typical of his generation. He was much more receptive to their feedback than mine! </p>
<p>I heartily agree with the wise encouragement to look broadly at good options for your daughter. But I also think it is important to support our kids in their dreams - who is to say that an Ivy isn’t part of their future? Good luck as you guide her through this process.</p>
<p>Emomama…all of the Ivies…and similar schools DO NOT OFFER ED.</p>
<p>For the OP.</p>
<p>Harvard and Stanford have Single Choice Early Action (they call it restrictive early action)</p>
<p>Columbia has Early Decision.</p>
<p>In all three cases, the student MUST pick only ONE of these schools for an early application, not all three. The benefit to SCEA is that it is a non-binding acceptance, and the student can apply regular decision to other colleges.</p>
<p>Now, back to the OP’s question…these are very competitive colleges. Harvard and Stanford are accepting 5% of applicants. Translation 95% do NOT get accepted. Columbia accepts about 10% of applicants. NONE of these should be viewed as a sure thing for ANY student. Absolutely have your kiddo apply to these schools if she really wants to. </p>
<p>The biggest gift you can give her is the knowledge that these three schools are NOT the only place where she can get an excellent college education. If she gets accepted, fine. But if she doesn’t, (like the very vast majority of applicants), there are plenty of other options she should be exploring as well.</p>
<p>ETA…this year, Harvard accepted 992 SCEA applicants, and Stanford 748. VERY low percentage of applicants. My guess is Stanford’s included athletic recruits in the number.</p>
<p>To be clear, five of the eight schools in the bad basketball league offer early decision programs. That could be helpful to know – unless you’re one of those people who seem to think that there are only three “real” Ivies. </p>
<p>Many schools “similar” to Ivies also offer ED programs, and others offer early action programs that are significantly less restrictive than those on offer up in the northeast and in Palo Alto.</p>
<p>If your D is interested in elite colleges, there’s no reason she shouldn’t look at top LACs and top unis. On CC, it seems like you have to “pick a side” but in real life you don’t.</p>
<p>My son is a freshman at an Ivy League school. For the record, I am VERY glad that I didn’t know about CC until late October of his senior year. Based on what I read here, I would have believed that he didn’t have a chance of getting in. My son took three music classes his junior year and two his senior year, only three years of foreign language, three years of math (he took AP Comp Sci his senior year and AP Calc AB His junior year). Because of scheduling conflicts, my son ended up taking four years of science (only one AP -AP Bio his senior year), but his original senior schedule didn’t have a science class. He did take all honors and AP classes. </p>
<p>I guess what I am trying to say is that every situation is different. My son is a very passionate musician but chose to go to our local public school instead of a school for the arts because the local public school had many more academic options than the school of the arts. He managed to take quite a few music classes which many deem ‘fluff’ classes on CC - Jazz ensemble freshman and sophomore year and choir junior and senior year. His schedules his junior and senior year were dictated by his music classes because they were only offered once a day. This schedule worked for him because he chose to take the classes that interested him the most. He is currently studying music and comp sci at his uni and loving it. Okay, maybe loving is a slight exaggeration for all the problem sets! ;)</p>
<p>momofmusician - Who gave him recommendations? Looking at his junior year schedule I am curious since some of the top schools want recs mainly from solid subject teachers (I have been interpreting that as non-music among the non-other subjects).</p>
<p>momofmusician - taking Calculus as a junior is the equivalent of four years of math and taking AP Comp Sci is gravy on top of that. I see is schedule as pretty solid and the extra music as a big plus - many of the elite schools are looking for that extra interest pursued at a level well beyond average.</p>
<p>My younger son didn’t get into an Ivy, but did get into at least one college that is ranked higher than some Ivies, for whatever that’s worth. (Not much IMO!) He took two orchestra classes every year and also bailed on the foreign language after he’d had three years in high school. (It was Level 4 Latin.) If you spend enough time here - you’ll actually figure out that a rigorous schedule does not mean every single AP your school offers.</p>
Based on what I read here, I would have believed that he didn’t have a chance of getting in. My son took three music classes his junior year and two his senior year, only three years of foreign language, three years of math (he took AP Comp Sci his senior year and AP Calc AB His junior year). Because of scheduling conflicts, my son ended up taking four years of science (only one AP -AP Bio his senior year), but his original senior schedule didn’t have a science class. He did take all honors and AP classes. </p>